Origin

The aerial pilot appears earlier than expected, with the person flying a balloon being called a pilot in the 1830s. The ultimate root is Greek pēdon ‘oar, rudder’. To drop the pilot is to abandon a trustworthy adviser. ‘Dropping the pilot’ was the caption of a famous cartoon by John Tenniel, published in Punch on 20 March 1890. It depicted Kaiser Wilhelm II's dismissal of Otto von Bismarck as German Chancellor, who had guided the country for many years.